Following on - and getting ready for Christmas!

During the last post I published ten days' ago - where does the time go, I wonder? - I made mention of the Christmas Bazaar held here in Heytesbury on December 10.  I mentioned that I had made 7 sales and that the toys who have left the ColdhamCuddlies family will need to be replaced - somehow, sometime!

Well, having written our annual round robin letter to our friends, in which we update folks on the Morrell family's activites during the current year, printed them off, written individual messages on both the letters and the cards into which the letters are inserted and addressed/stamped the envelopes, I've just come up for air and am ready to face the blogging scene one again.  So - as a follow on (implied in the title of this post), here is a photograph of the table of toys in the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Heytesbury - before the sale began.

Crib in the background, together with part of the pulpit showing a splendid carving

It was our luck to be placed there - right next door to a hot radiator (just to the left of the Golden Teddy Glove Puppet shown in this picture).  As it was  one of the first really cold days we've suffered this Winter, and believe me, English churches can be cold - even in high Summer - every time I began to get a little chilly, I just moved to my right and sat on the radiator!  LOVELY!

The local paper was invited and actually attended.  Several pictures were taken by the reporter, who also "interviewed" me, asking me about the Cuddlies - and showing particular interest in the concept of the Soft Toy Clinic and it's activities - I'd given him a card earlier in the morning!  The report has not yet appeared - but as The Warminster Journal seems to be about two week's behind in its reportage, I suspect if anything does appear,  it will be in an edition after Christmas.  If I feel it is a good story, I will include it in a future blog.  Even if it's only a brief mention, all publicity is good publicity - and a good ending for my first full year as Toymaker to the ColdhamCuddlies, and, hopefully, a good start for 2012 as well.

In the front of the table, you can just see the latest additions to the ColdhamCuddlies family:  a medley of Baby Bunnies, made in Pink, Purple, White and  Blue Fleece and decorated with a green holly leaf collar with a bright ribbon for use as a pram or cot toy.   This has been my latest project, which I've just completed having made four of each colour.  They will be listed in our shop after I've completed this post and although a little late for this Christmas, they can stay in the shop until next Christmas - or I can always change the collar and hanging ribbon for any colour that is requested.  (Hot off the Press:  Etsy Listing #89020911)

Two of the bunch (an all-Purple Baby Bunny and an all White Baby Bunny) have already left us - destined as a Welcome to the World present for a young man called Michael who arrived on December 13 - weighing in at 10 lbs! - which just happens to be Peter's birthday as well!  So no excuses on our part to forget this young man in future.  He was sent the Purple Baby Bunny, and his big sister was given the all White one - just so she could play with her little brother later on.

A Christmas ring of Baby Bunnies

Here, for your amusement are close-ups of the various Bunnies prior to joining their plush versions in the Baby Bunnies storage bag!  Their eyes are all made using Black Double Knitting yarn, and are also firmly sewn in, as well as being tied together and fixed into the individual toy's stuffing.  Little fingers should not be able to get them out, but if they do, they will probably collapse under the strain!

The remaining Purple Fleece Baby Bunnies.

Little Michael's present is similar (because I am quite incapable of making identical ones, however hard I try!) to the Bunny in the centre.

Here are the remaining White Baby Fleece Bunnies - the centre one's tail doesn't really show up!

These are like the one sent to Michael's Big Sister.

These are the Pink Baby Fleece Bunnies - choice of White fronts, or not, are up to the Buyer!

These are the Blue Fleece Baby Bunnies - their tails do show up!

All the Bunnies have furry white Bob Tails and do sit up if firmly placed on their respective surfaces - unless of course they are being hung up in a pram or the side of a cot.  They'd all also make ideal stocking stuffers, and I'm considering making them up - if they don't go before - as hanging mobiles in time for next Christmas!

Right - I'm now off to list them in our Etsy shop - www.coldhamcuddlies.etsy.com.  See you all soon!  Isobel